Most resolving, transparent amps.

Tgrisham and Phd have nailed the term, "transparency" to a tee. Further- If the recordings you are listening were engineered/reproduced with an unfortunate hand/ear- The transparent amp that faithfully reproduces the shortcomings IS NOT the liability, the recording is. The ambient info Phd mentioned is usually lost in most(but the higher priced) SS amps. Again I have to agree with Phd about the BAT pieces, and for the reason he sites: less in the signal path(one reason tube circuits are better- simple topography). That's Victor Khomenko's(of BAT) design philosophy. Placette makes an excellent(all bulk-foil Vishay resistor) passive line stage, IF your sources have sufficient output. I've never used their active(with gain) unit, but it is supposed to be close in it's transparency. Don't forget- there are a multitude of cables/interconnects that will affect your signal transfer/purity as well. I've found Kimber Selects to have the least impact, in my system, after much wire-tasting.

Rodmann99999, thankyou for your response and thoughts. I think you and I agree that transparency is high on the list as a system requirement. Anyway I have not made alot of cables/interconnect changes lately so I'm going to check out your recommendation on the Kimber Selects line even though I know cabling can be system dependent.

How about that Audio Sector Patek on sale here at A-gon today?

Phd- This company:(http://www.thecableco.com/about.php) allows you to try cables in your home, without risk, before you buy. That will eliminate any costly errors/possible system mis-matches. happy listening!!

Dead quiet, black background, dimesnional, layered, imaging, open, extended top end - all qualities of top amps, I think. Let the music come through as it was put on the disc - no editorializing.

Be careful of what you ask for! A little editorializing can be welcome with poorly mixed and compressed recordings which most of us have. I agree with Tvad and Marco that color isn't always a bad thing. But saying that Jupiter aligns with Mars and all recordings are perfect there is nothing quite like an amplifier that resolves what is on the recording to make it come alive. I doubt there is an "amp for all seasons" since there are synergy issues that can make a difference in how the top amps might sound in a given system. I own a Berning ZH270, a sort of OTL but not in the sense that a purist would define OTL, but I won't get into that discussion again, it has been argued numerous times in this forum even among the designer's. The Berning holds up well in all the criteria that you speak of. I haven't heard any ss amp rival it or any of the other OTL amps I have heard in the area that tubes excel, presence, immediacy and timbral realism, things I find essential. The Atma-sphere, Graff and Joule all provide this magic with the right speakers but that is the problem, OTL's have the limitation of the number of speakers available that they can be used with. "black background, dimesnional, layered, imaging, open, extended top end" Yes to all OTL amps I have listened to.

SS amps - I can only think of one speaker where SS made it sound close to real music and that is the Apogees. On the other hand, how many tube amps can drive these terrific speakers? Again Synergy plays a key role. I've heard excellent ss based systems but not many that were memorable in conveying the experience of listening to real music in an acoustic space, my personal criteria of what is most important. Again, we all have different priorities. I haven't heard the dartzeel which seems to be something special among ss amps in conveying what tube amps do so well.

Digital amps? I haven't heard any music from these amps but I haven't heard them with the Apogees or any other low impedance load that they might be used with good results. Maybe they have improved?

This is my experience. The consistent magic of real music reproduction is very elusive in that when you think you are getting close you hear something better or is it really just different that makes you question and re-evaluate just what in the hell is going on!